Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-jr42d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T20:33:00.746Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Alcohol abuse in Huntington's disease

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Michael King*
Affiliation:
General Practice Research Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, London
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Michael King,General Practice Research Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF.

Synopsis

Forty-two patients attending a Huntington's Disease Research project at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, were screened for alcohol abuse and alcohol-related problems. Prevalence of current or past alcohol abuse was 24% for males, 5.9% for females or 16.7% overall. When alcohol abuse occurred in HD probands it was often concurrent with depressive symptoms, and may have been associated with the threat of the disease. There was no evidence that HD patients had an increased rate of alcohol abuse above that of the local Baltimore community.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andreasen, N. C., Endicott, J., Spitzer, R. L. & Winokur, G. (1977). The family history method using diagnostic criteria. Reliability and validity. Archives of General Psychiatry 34, 12291235.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bolt, J. M. W. (1970). Huntington's chorea in the west of Scotland. British Journal of Psychiatry 116, 259270.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Caine, E. D. & Shoulson, I. (1983). Psychiatric syndromes in Huntington's disease. American Journal of Psychiatry 140, 728733.Google ScholarPubMed
Dewhurst, K., Oliver, J. E. & McKnight, A. L. (1970). Socio-psychiatric consequences of Huntington's disease. British Journal of Psychiatry 116, 255258.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Folstein, S. E. & Folstein, M. F. (1983). Psychiatric features of Huntington's disease: recent approaches and findings. Psychiatric Developments 2, 193205.Google Scholar
Folstein, S. E., Franz, M. L., Jensen, B. A., Chase, G. A. & Folstein, M. F. (1983). Conduct disorder and affective disorder among offspring of patients with Huntington's disease. Psychological Medicine 13, 4552.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Freedman, D. X. (1984). Psychiatric epidemiology counts. Archives of General Psychiatry 41, 931933.Google ScholarPubMed
Goodwin, D. W. & Erickson, C. K. (eds.) (1979). Alcoholism and Affective Disorders. Clinical, Genetic and Biochemical Studies. SP Books: New York.Google Scholar
Guze, S. B., Tuasen, V. B., Stewart, M. A. & Picken, B. (1963). The drinking history: a comparison of reports by subjects and their relatives. Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol 24, 249260.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hans, M. B. & Gilmore, T. H. (1968). Social aspects of Huntington's chorea. British Journal of Psychiatry 114, 9398.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hughes, E. M. (1925). Social significance of Huntington's chorea. American Journal of Psychiatry 81, 537573.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huntington, G. (1872). On chorea. Medicine and Surgery Reporter (Philadelphia) 26, 317321. Quoted in Browning, W. (ed.) (1908). Neurographs 1(2).Google Scholar
Mattson, B. (1974). Huntington's chorea in Sweden. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica Suppl. 255, 221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myers, J. K., Weissman, M. M., Tischler, G. L., Holzer, C. E., Leaf, P. J., Orvaschel, H., Anthony, J. C., Boyd, J. H., Burke, J. D., Kramer, M. & Stoltzman, R. (1984). Six month prevalence of psychiatric disorders in three communities. Archives of General Psychiatry 41, 959967.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oliver, J. E. (1970). Huntington's chorea in Northamptonshire. British Journal of Psychiatry 116, 241253.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robins, L. N., Helzer, J. E., Croughan, J. & Ratcliff, K. S. (1981). National Institute of Mental Health Diagnostic Interview Schedule. Archives of General Psychiatry 38, 381389.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robins, L. N., Helzer, J. E., Weissman, M. M., Orvaschel, H., Gruenberg, E., Burke, J. D. & Regier, D. A. (1984). Lifetime prevalence of specific psychiatric disorders in three sites. Archives of General Psychiatry 41, 949958.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Spillane, J. & Phillips, R. (1937). Huntington's chorea in South Wales. Quarterly Journal of Medicine 6, 403423.Google Scholar
Thompson, W. D., Orvaschel, H., Prusoff, B. A. & Kidd, K. K. (1982). An evaluation of the family history method for ascertaining psychiatric disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry 39, 5358.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed